Issue 5, 2005

Determination of uranium isotope ratios by multi-static MIC-ICP-MS: method and implementation for precise U- and Th-series isotope measurements

Abstract

In order to improve and extend the application of U- and Th-series isotope measurements a new technique for MIC-ICP-MS (multiple ion counting inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) was developed. This method uses either two (double MIC) or three (triple MIC) multipliers to measure in static mode in turn the U-isotopes 233U, 234U, 235U and 236U. For online internal standardization, mass bias correction and cross calibration of the multipliers a 233U/236U double spike was used. Applying this method the level of 1‰ 2σ internal precision is reached in less than 30 min, consuming less than 5 ng of total U. The multi-static MIC-ICP-MS method improves the precision by a factor of 5 for U isotope measurement compared with TIMS and by a factor of 2 compared with published ICP-MS methods. Repeated measurements of uranium CRM-145 (otherwise NBL 112A) were performed to test the reproducibility and accuracy of the method. An average 234U/238U value of (5.285 84 ± 0.000 87) × 10−5 or a δ234U value of −36.96 ± 0.16, respectively, was determined for CRM-145 in good agreement with reference data. Based on the precisely determined U isotope ratios we furthermore developed a combined multi-static U- and Th-measurement method. This approach extends this new MIC-ICP-MS technique to those U- and Th-series isotope systems having no constant isotope ratio for normalization (e.g., 230Th/232Th, 230Th/229Th) and is the key for new approaches to determining 226Ra/228Ra and 231Pa/233Pa. The applicability of the methods presented here is demonstrated by accurate dating of very young corals (10–350 y).

Graphical abstract: Determination of uranium isotope ratios by multi-static MIC-ICP-MS: method and implementation for precise U- and Th-series isotope measurements

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Oct 2004
Accepted
01 Mar 2005
First published
21 Mar 2005

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2005,20, 395-401

Determination of uranium isotope ratios by multi-static MIC-ICP-MS: method and implementation for precise U- and Th-series isotope measurements

J. Fietzke, V. Liebetrau, A. Eisenhauer and Ch. Dullo, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2005, 20, 395 DOI: 10.1039/B415958F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements